Video game designer Michel Ansel has confirmed a follow-up to the cult hit Beyond Good and Evil is officially in pre-production, after years in development limbo.

Ancel made the announcement on Instagram, with a post revealing concept art of a Rastafarian-style rhino man, captioned "Endangered species - now saved - Game in pre-production - Stay tuned!"

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Ubisoft representatives have confirmed to WIRED that the game is indeed in development, and is being made at one of its French studios. Sources say, "Michel is currently working with the Ubisoft Montpellier Studio on a new Beyond Good and Evil game."

It could be back to radio silence on the game for a while though, as they add "We don't have anything further to share at this stage."

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The original Beyond Good and Evil was released on the Gamecube, PS2 and original Xbox in 2003. A sci-fi adventure heavy on the narrative, it followed photo-journalist Jade as she investigated corruption on an alien world. The character Ancel showed is likely a rhinoceros sapiens, as encountered in the first game.

Beloved for its unusual gameplay - Jade would have to get photographic evidence of a conspiracy, as well as solve mysteries and battle the occasional enemy - Beyond Good and Evil got a high-def remake for PS3 and Xbox 360 in 2011, but a true sequel has been stalled for years.

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Ancel, who is perhaps best known as the creator of cartoon platformer Rayman, has been building up to the announcement over the past week on his Instagram account, with teases of concept art that referenced characters in the original game.

His first 'gram, posted on September 27, shows a young, anthropomorphised pig sitting on the shoulders of an older human mechanic. Many fans have presumed this to be a young Pey'j, Jade's adoptive uncle in Beyond Good and Evil, and are speculating the mechanic may be her father, revealed to have died when she was a child.

Ancel also annotated this image with the caption "Somewhere in system 4... - Thanks #ubisoft for making this possible!" System 4 is the name of the solar system where the first game took place.

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The second image, posted on September 29, shows a humanoid shark, captioned "'Ready for the fight' independence #ubisoft day". This matches the carcharodon sapiens featured in the earlier game, such as Francis. However, rather than a hint at the new game's content, Ancel's commentary was likely in reference to Ubisoft's shareholder meeting, where the company battled a takeover bid from Vivendi.

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A CGI trailer for a Beyond Good and Evil 2 was revealed by Ubisoft eight years ago, but nothing ever materialised. That teaser showed a full-grown Pey'j sitting by a broken down car in an arid desert, hinting at a follow up. However, the images posted by Ancel so far indicate that the new Beyond Good and Evil game may in fact be a prequel, rather than a sequel to Jade's adventure - or at least delve into the past via flashbacks.

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot recently confirmed Ancel was working on two new games, though not which ones. "He's doing two things. He has one game that he is doing as an independent and he's also working on a game with Ubisoft," Guillemot told Gamespot, adding that it was an unannounced game.

However, with the game only in pre-production, players could still be waiting a long time for it to materialise. Still, it's been 13 years and counting already - fans have shown they have the patience for it.